After the processing of a semiconductor wafer has been completed, the resulting integrated circuit (IC) chips or dice must be separated and packaged in such a way that they can be connected to external circuitry. There are many known packaging techniques. Most involve mounting the die on a leadframe, connecting the die pads to the leadframe by wire-bonding or otherwise, and then encapsulating the die and wire bonds in a plastic capsule, with the leadframe left protruding from the capsule. The encapsulation is often done by injection-molding. The leadframe is then trimmed to remove the tie bars that hold it together, and the leads are bent in such a way that the package can be mounted on a flat surface, typically a printed circuit board (PCB).
This is generally an expensive, time-consuming process, and the resulting semiconductor package is considerably larger than the die itself, using up an undue amount of scarce "real estate" on the PCB. In addition, wire bonds are fragile and introduce a considerable resistance between the die pads and the leads of the package.
The problems are particularly difficult when the device to be packaged is a "vertical" device, having terminals on opposite faces of the die. For example, a power MOSFET typically has its source and gate terminals on the front side of the die and its drain terminal on the back side of the die. Similarly, a vertical diode has its anode terminal on one face of the die and its cathode terminal on the opposite face of the die. Bipolar transistors, junction field effect transistors (JFETs), and various types of integrated circuits (ICs) can also be fabricated in a "vertical" configuration.
Accordingly, there is a need for a process which is simpler and less expensive than existing processes and which produces a package that is essentially the same size as the die. There is a particular need for such a process and package that can be used with semiconductor dice having terminals on both their front and back sides.